Archbishop Fisichella Named to New Dicastery

Chancellor to Head Academy for Life

June 30, 2010
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VATICAN CITY, JUNE 30, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, as president of the recently created Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

On Monday, in his homily during the vigil for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Pope announced the creation of a new Vatican dicastery.

He noted that the council would be "dedicated to the specific task of promoting a renewed evangelization in countries where the first proclamation of the faith already resounded, and where Churches are present of ancient foundation, but which are going through a progressive secularization of society and a sort of 'eclipse of the sense of God,' which constitutes a challenge to find the appropriate means to propose again the perennial truth of the Gospel of Christ."

Today, the Vatican announced the appointment of Archbishop Fisichella, 58, who has also been serving as rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, as head of the new dicastery.

Born in Codogno, Italy, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rome in 1976, and an auxiliary bishop in 1998.

In 2008, he was named president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, at which time he was elevated to the dignity of archbishop.

The archbishop will be succeeded in this post by Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who has been serving as the academy's chancellor.

Spanish Monsignor Carrasco de Paula, a member of Opus Dei, has also served as director of the Bioethics Institute of the University of the Sacred Heart in Rome.